George Armstrong Custer

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 153.26.176.34 (talk) at 07:33, 21 August 2007 (→‎Battle of the Little Bighorn). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

George Armstrong Custer
AllegianceUnited States of America
Years of service1861-1876
RankBrevet Major General
Commands heldMichigan Brigade
7th Cavalry
Battles/warsAmerican Civil War
*First Battle of Bull Run
*Peninsula Campaign
*Battle of Antietam
*Battle of Chancellorsville
*Gettysburg Campaign
*Battle of Gettysburg
*Overland Campaign
**Battle of the Wilderness
**Battle of Yellow Tavern
*Valley Campaigns of 1864
*Siege of Petersburg
Indian Wars
*Battle of the Washita
*Battle of the Little Bighorn
"Custer" redirects here. For other uses, see Custer (disambiguation).

George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the Indian Wars. Promoted at an early age to a temporary war-time rank of brigadier general, and later made a permanent Lt. Colonel, he was a flamboyant and aggressive commander during numerous Civil War battles, known for his personal bravery in leading charges against opposing cavalry. He led the Michigan Brigade whom he called the "Wolverines" during the Civil War. He was defeated and killed at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, against a coalition of Native American tribes comprised almost exclusively of Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapahoe warriors, and led by the Sioux chiefs Crazy Horse and Gall and by the Hunkpapa seer and medicine man, Sitting Bull. This confrontation has come to be popularly known and enshrined in American history as Custer's Last Stand.

Birth and family

Custer was born in New Rumley, Ohio, to Emanuel Henry Custer (1806-1892), a farmer and blacksmith, and Marie Ward Kirkpatrick (1807-1882). [1] Through his life Custer was known by a variety of nicknames. Among Whites he was called alternately Autie (his early attempt to pronounce his middle name), Armstrong, Fanny, or Curley. When he went west the Plains Indians whom he encountered called him Yellow Hair and Son of the Morning Star. His brothers Thomas Custer and Boston Custer died with him at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, as did his brother-in-law and nephew. His other two full siblings were Nevin and Margaret Custer, and he had several other half siblings. Custer's father's family originally came from Westphalia in West Germany. They emigrated and arrived in America in the 17th century. The original family surname was "Küster". He was a fifth-generation descendant of the German, Arnold Küster from Kaldenkirchen, Duchy of Jülich (today North Rhine-Westphalia state), who later immigrated to Hanover, Pennsylvania.

Custer Memorial at his birthplace in New Rumley, Ohio

Custer's mother's original maiden name was Marie Ward. In 1823 she married Israel Kirkpatrick who died in 1835. Being a widow, she then married Emanuel Henry Custer in 1836. Marie Ward's grandparents George Ward (1724-1811) and Mary Ward (nee Grier) (1733-1811) were born in County Durham, Northern England and emigrated to the United States. Their son James Grier Ward (1765-1824) was born in Dauphin, Pennsylvania and married Catherine Rogers (1776-1829), and their daughter, Marie Ward, was Custer's mother. Catherine Rogers was the daughter of Thomas Rogers (born in England in 1742) and Sarah Armstrong, which is the source of George Armstrong Custer's middle name.

Early life

Custer spent much of his boyhood living with his half-sister and his brother-in-law in Monroe, Michigan, where he attended school and is now honored by a statue in the center of town. [2] Before entering the United States Military Academy, Custer attended the McNeely Normal School, later known as Hopedale Normal College, in Hopedale, Ohio and known as the first coeducational college for teachers in eastern Ohio. While attending Hopedale, Custer was known to have carried coal together with classmate William Enos Emery to help pay for their room and board. Custer graduated from McNeely Normal School in 1856 and taught school in Ohio. A local legend suggests that Custer obtained his appointment to the Academy due to the influence of a prominent resident, who wished to keep Custer away from his daughter.

Custer graduated from West Point, last of a class of 34 cadets, in 1861, just after the start of the Civil War. [3] Ordinarily, such a showing would be a ticket to an obscure posting and career, but he had the fortune to graduate just as the war caused the army to experience a sudden need for new officers. His tenure at the academy was a rocky one and he came close to expulsion each of his four years due to excessive demerits, many from pulling pranks on fellow cadets. But he began a path to a distinguished war record, one that has been overshadowed in history by his role and fate in the Indian Wars.

Civil War

McClellan and Pleasonton

George Armstrong Custer
File:GCuster.jpg
Custer in the earlier years of the Civil War

Custer was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 2nd U.S. Cavalry and immediately joined his regiment at the First Battle of Bull Run, where Army commander Winfield Scott detailed him to carry messages to Major General Irvin McDowell. After the battle he was reassigned to the 5th U.S. Cavalry, with which he served through the early days of the Peninsula Campaign in 1862. During the pursuit of Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston up the Peninsula, on May 24, 1862, Custer persuaded a colonel to allow him to lead an attack with four companies of Michigan infantry across the Chickahominy River above New Bridge. The attack was successful, capturing 50 Confederates. Major General George B. McClellan, commander of the Army of the Potomac, termed it a "very gallant affair", congratulated Custer personally, and brought him onto his staff as an aide-de-camp with the temporary rank of captain. In this role, Custer began his lifelong pursuit of publicity. On one occasion when McClellan and his staff were reconnoitering a potential crossing point on the Chickahominy River, they stopped and Custer overheard his commander mutter to himself, "I wish I knew how deep it is." Custer dashed forward on his horse out to the middle of the river and turned to the astonished officers of the staff and shouted triumphantly, "That's how deep it is, General!"

When McClellan was relieved of command in November 1862, Custer reverted to the rank of first lieutenant. Custer fell into the orbit of Maj. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton, who was commanding a cavalry division. The general was Custer's introduction to the world of extravagant uniforms and political maneuvering and the young lieutenant became his protégé, serving on Pleasonton's staff while continuing his assignment with his regiment. Custer was quoted as saying that "no father could love his son more than General Pleasonton loves me." After the Battle of Chancellorsville, Pleasonton became the commander of the Cavalry Corps of the Army of the Potomac and his first assignment was to locate the army of Robert E. Lee, moving north through the Shenandoah Valley in the beginning of the Gettysburg Campaign. Custer distinguished himself by fearless, aggressive actions in some of the numerous cavalry engagements that started off the campaign, including Brandy Station and Aldie.

Custer (extreme right) with President Lincoln, George B. McClellan and other officers at the Battle of Antietam, 1862

Brigade command and Gettysburg

Three days prior to the Battle of Gettysburg, General Pleasonton promoted Custer from captain to brevet brigadier general (temporary rank) of volunteers. Despite having no direct command experience, he became one of the youngest generals in the Union Army at age 23.

Two captains—Wesley Merritt and Elon J. Farnsworth—received the same promotion along with Custer, although they did have command experience. Custer lost no time in implanting his aggressive character on his brigade, part of the division of Brig. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick. He fought against the Confederate cavalry of J.E.B. Stuart at Hanover and Hunterstown, on the way to the main event at Gettysburg.

Custer's style of battle sometimes bordered on reckless or foolhardy. He often impulsively gathered up whatever cavalrymen he could find in his vicinity and led them personally in bold assaults directly into enemy positions. One of his greatest attributes during the Civil War was luck and he needed it to survive some of these charges. At Hunterstown, in an ill-considered charge ordered by Kilpatrick (but one that Custer did not protest) against the brigade of Wade Hampton, Custer fell from his wounded horse directly before the enemy and became the target of numerous enemy rifles. He was rescued by the bugler of the 1st Michigan Cavalry, Norville Churchill, who galloped up, shot Custer's nearest assailant, and allowed Custer to mount behind him for a dash to safety.

Possibly Custer's finest hour in the Civil War was just east of Gettysburg on July 3, 1863. In conjunction with Pickett's Charge to the west, Robert E. Lee dispatched Stuart's cavalry on a mission into the rear of the Union Army. Custer encountered the Union cavalry division of David McM. Gregg, directly in the path of Stuart's horsemen. He convinced Gregg to allow him to stay and fight, while his own division was stationed to the south out of the action. At East Cavalry Field, hours of charges and hand-to-hand combat ensued. Custer led a mounted charge of the 1st Michigan Cavalry, breaking the back of the Confederate assault, foiling Lee's plan. Custer's brigade lost 257 men at Gettysburg, the highest loss of any Union cavalry brigade.[4]

Marriage

He married Elizabeth Clift Bacon (1842–1933) on February 9, 1864. She was born in Monroe, Michigan, to Daniel Stanton Bacon and Eleanor Sophia Page. They had no children together, but Custer had a son, Yellow Bird Custer (born c.1869), by his mistress Monaseetah (c.1851 - 1922; for Monaseetah see ref (AFN:1DQS-2V5) of the LDS Family Archives and for Yellow Bird, see ref (AFN:1DQS-2WC). He entered into a bigamous marriage with her on 27 Nov 1868).

The Valley and Appomattox

When the cavalry corps of the Army of the Potomac was reorganized under Philip Sheridan in 1864, Custer retained his command, and took part in the various actions of the cavalry in the Overland Campaign, including the Battle of the Wilderness (after which he ascended to division command), the Battle of Yellow Tavern, where Jeb Stuart was mortally wounded, and the Battle of Trevilian Station, where Custer was humiliated by having his division trains overrun and his personal baggage captured by the Confederates. When Confederate General Jubal A. Early moved down the Shenandoah Valley and threatened Washington, D.C., Custer's division was dispatched along with Sheridan to the Valley Campaigns of 1864. They pursued the Confederates at Winchester and effectively destroyed Early's army during Sheridan's counterattack at Cedar Creek.

Custer and Sheridan, having defeated Early, returned to the main Union Army lines at the Siege of Petersburg, where they spent the winter. In April 1865 the Confederate lines were finally broken and Robert E. Lee began his retreat to Appomattox Court House, pursued mercilessly by the Union cavalry. Custer distinguished himself by his actions at Waynesboro, Dinwiddie Court House, and Five Forks. His division blocked Lee's retreat on its final day and received the first flag of truce from the Confederate force. Custer was present at the surrender at Appomattox Court House and the table upon which the surrender was signed was presented to him as a gift for his gallantry. Before the close of the war Custer received brevet promotions to brigadier and major general in the Regular Army and major general in the volunteers. As with most wartime promotions, these senior ranks were only temporary.

Indian Wars

In 1866, Custer was mustered out of the volunteer service, reduced to the rank of captain in the regular army. At the request of Maj. Gen. Phillip H. Sheridan, a bill was introduced into congress to promote Custer to major general, but the bill failed. Custer was offered command of the 10th U.S. Cavalry (otherwise known as the Buffalo Soldiers) with the rank of full colonel, but turned the command down in favor of a lieutenant colonelcy of the 7th U.S. Cavalry and was assigned to that unit at Fort Riley, Kansas.

His career took a brief detour in 1867 when he was court-martialed at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, for being AWOL. Abandoning post to return to his wife, along with 10 other soldiers and suspended for one year (staying with his wife for the year at Fort Leavenworth), returning to the Army in 1868.

He then took part in General Winfield Scott Hancock's expedition against the Cheyenne. Marching from Fort Supply, Indian Territory, he successfully attacked an encampment of Cheyennes and Arapahos - the Battle of Washita River on November 27, 1868. This was regarded as the first substantial U.S. victory in the Indian Wars and a significant portion to the southern branch of the Cheyenne Nation was forced onto a U.S. appointed reservation. On the Washita three Indian women and six children were killed. Custer had his men shoot the 875 Indian ponies the troops had captured.

In 1873, he was sent to the Dakota Territory to protect a railroad survey party against the Sioux. On August 4, 1873, near the Tongue River, Custer and the 7th U.S. Cavalry clashed for the first time with the Sioux. Only one man on each side was killed. In 1874, Custer led an expedition into the Black Hills and announced the discovery of gold on French Creek near present-day Custer, South Dakota. Custer's announcement triggered the Black Hills Gold Rush and gave rise to the lawless town of Deadwood, South Dakota.

In 1875, Custer swore by White Buffalo Calf Pipe, a pipe sacred to the Lakota, that he would not fight Native Americans again. A medicine man then told Custer that if he ever broke his promise he would die on that day. Forgetting his promise, Custer attacked the encampment of Cheyenne, Arapaho and Sioux at the Little Big Horn on June 25, 1876 and he died on that day. To the Native Americans, "the inevitable outcome -- Custer's personal annihilation ... -- was proof of the working of great spiritual power."[5]

Battle of the Little Bighorn

Further information: Battle of the Little Bighorn

In 1876, Hiester Clymer, Chairman of the House Committee on Military Expenditures, commenced an investigation of various acts of Secretary of War William W. Belknap. Custer was called to testify in the proceedings, despite his statement that what he knew was only by hearsay. But his testimony seemed to confirm the accusations not only against Belknap, but also against President Ulysses S. Grant's brother Orville Grant. The president ordered Custer placed under arrest. This delayed a scheduled expedition against members of the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho Nations who resisted being confined to their designated reservations, in which Custer was to be involved. Grant relieved Custer of command and ordered the expedition to proceed without him. Custer wrote to the president:

As my entire Regiment forms a part of the expedition and I am the senior officer of the regiment on duty in this department, I respectfully but most earnestly request that while not allowed to go in command of the expedition I may be permitted to serve with my regiment in the field. I appeal to you as a soldier to spare me the humiliation of seeing my regiment march to meet the enemy and I not share its dangers.

Grant relented and gave his permission for Custer to go. The 7th Cavalry departed from Fort Lincoln on May 17, 1876. Crow Indian scouts identified to Custer what they claimed was a large encampment of Native Americans. Following the common thinking of the time that Native Americans would flee if attacked by a strong force of cavalry, he decided to attack immediately.

An 1899 chromolithograph entitled Custer Massacre at Big Horn, Montana — June 25, 1876, artist unknown.

Custer knew he was outnumbered, though he did not know by how much (probably something on the order of 3 to 1). His Crow scouts, however, had a good idea, and when they saw that Custer was determined to attack, they rode off. Custer had already weakened his command earlier in the campaign by leaving behind a battery of Gatling Guns, which would certainly have changed the outcome of the battle, and now, despite the knowledge of the superior Indian force, he split his forces into 3 battalions: one led by Major Marcus Reno, one by Captain Frederick Benteen, and one by himself (this actually split his forces into 4 parts as Capt. Thomas M. McDougall and Company B were with the pack train). The fighting opened when advanced units of Custer's force came upon some five Indian boys who had been sent on the routine task of rounding up the camp's horses. One of these boys was shot outright and the rest rode back to warn the camp. At this moment, the element of surprise had been lost.

Still, Custer pressed recklessly ahead. He ordered Reno to attack the eastern end of the village with approximately 142 men, and Benteen to go west, scouting for warriors or the Indian village, while Custer himself circled around toward to the north end of the camp, in what was intended to be a pincer movement. Reno’s attack met with stiff resistance and after Reno's own Indian scout was hit in the face by a rifle round, splattering brains and blood over the side of Reno's face, Reno panicked and fell back in a disorganized retreat in the face of stiffening Indian resistance. His troops first attempted to take cover in the trees along the river, but were eventually forced into a bloody retreat up onto the bluffs above the river, where they made their own stand. This, the opening action of the battle, cost Reno a quarter of his command.

Meanwhile, unaware of Reno's failure, Custer had located the main encampment and attempted to ford the river at the northern end of the camp. This move appears to have been a classic "hammer and anvil" maneuver, by which Custer intended to drive south through the camp, sandwiching the Indians between his attacking troopers and Reno's command. The action was probably intended as a general massacre. Thus, when Custer saw the immense size of the village he sent a second message to the rear: "Benteen, come on, big village, be quick, bring packs, p.s. bring packs!". He had no way of knowing, however, the Reno's attack had failed and that the Indians were already counterattacking.

At the same time, Captaim Benteen had assessed the situation grimly and was retreating when he halted to help Reno in a defensive position on the bluffs above the Little Big Horn river. Many of the Indians that had been facing Reno were freed by his retreat, and were now able to concentrate on Custer's battalion.[6] At least one of the Indian accounts describes the bucksin-jacketed leader of the cavalry force attempting to cross the river at the north end of the camp being unhorsed on by a shot from an Indian sharpshooter on the other side of the river. A soldier dismounted and helped this man back onto his horse, after which the command retreated back up to the ridge above the camp. At this point, the entire Indian camp was in an uproar, and men who had just been bathing in the river ran naked back into the camp where their wives, mothers and sisters handed them their weapons as they mounted their horses without paint or regalia. Sitting Bull, recognizing the intended massacre for what it was, exhorted the men to fight to protect their women and children, but took no part in the battle himself. Instead, he led the non-combatants out of the camp and over the hills to the south to avoid being slaughtered.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).

Following the recovery of Custer's body, he was given a funeral with full military honors, and was buried on the battlefield. The site was designated a National Cemetery in 1876, but Custer was reinterred in the West Point Cemetery on October 10, 1877.

The destruction of a famed cavalry unit came as a great shock to a nation on the eve of celebrating its Centennial. Several investigations were performed, but each one with a real chance of reaching determinative conclusions was flawed. The reluctance of the army to make embarrassing admissions was combined with an unwillingness to make public information that would upset Mrs. Custer while she was alive, and she lived for more than another half-century. The romanticism prevalent at the time caused there to be erected at the battlefield more "gravestones" than there were troopers killed there, and the locations of these stones apparently had little to do with the death or burial locations of the soldiers. Even today, there are gaps in our knowledge of the battle.

Controversial legacy

George and Libbie Custer

After his death, Custer achieved the lasting fame that eluded him in life. The public saw him as a tragic military hero and gentleman who sacrificed his life for his country. Custer's wife, Elizabeth, who accompanied him in many of his frontier expeditions, did much to advance this view with the publication of several books about her late husband: Boots and Saddles, Life with General Custer in Dakota (1885), Tenting on the Plains (1887), and Following the Guidon (1891). General Custer himself wrote about the Indian wars in My Life on the Plains (1874) and was the posthumous co-author of The Custer Story (1950).

Custer would be called today a "media personality" who understood the value of good public relations and exploited media for his own ends; he frequently invited correspondents to accompany him on his campaigns, and their favorable reportage contributed to his high reputation that lasted well into the 20th century. It is believed that Custer was photographed more than any other Civil War officer,[citation needed] and perhaps more than any other person in the 19th century with the exception of "Buffalo Bill" Cody. He was fond of flamboyant dress; a witness described his appearance as "like a circus rider gone mad." After being promoted to brigadier general, Custer sported a uniform that included shiny jackboots, tight olive corduroy trousers, a wide-brimmed slouch hat, tight hussar jacket of black velveteen with silver piping on the sleeves, a sailor shirt with silver stars on his collar, and a red cravat. He wore his hair in long glistening ringlets liberally sprinkled with cinnamon-scented hair oil. Later in his campaigns against the Indians, Custer wore a buckskin outfit along with his familiar red tie.

The assessment of Custer's actions during the Indian Wars has undergone substantial reconsideration in modern times[citation needed]. For many critics, Custer was the personification and culmination of the U.S. Government's ill-treatment of the Native American tribes, while others see him as a scapegoat for the Grant Indian policy, which he personally opposed.[citation needed] His testimony on behalf of the abuses sustained by the reservation Indians nearly cost him his command by the Grant administration. Custer once wrote that if he were an Indian, he would rather fight for his freedom alongside the hostile warriors "than be confined to the limits of a reservation".[citation needed]

Many criticized Custer's actions during the battle of the Little Bighorn, claiming his actions were impulsive and foolish,[citation needed] while others praised him as a fallen hero who was betrayed by the incompetence of his subordinate officers.[citation needed] The controversy over who is to blame for the disaster at Little Bighorn rages to this day.

Monuments and memorials

George A. Custer out of uniform.
  • There is an equestrian statue of Custer in Monroe, Michigan, his boyhood home. Originally located near city hall, in the center of town, it was moved years later to Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Park, a small park near the River Raisin and away from the main thoroughfares of the city. Due to lobbying by Libbie Custer and others, it was eventually moved to its current location, on the corner of Monroe and Elm Streets, on the edge of downtown Monroe.
  • The establishment of Fort Custer National Cemetery (originally Fort Custer Post Cemetery) took place on September 18, 1943, with the first interment. As early as the 1960s, local politicians and veterans organizations advocated the establishment of a national cemetery at Fort Custer. The National Cemeteries Act of 1973 directed the Veterans' Administration to develop a plan to provide burial space to all veterans who desired interment in a national cemetery. After much study, the NCS adopted what became the regional concept. Fort Custer became the Veterans' Administration's choice for its Region V national cemetery. Toward this goal, Congress created Fort Custer National Cemetery in September 1981. The cemetery received 566 acres from the Fort Custer Military Reservation and 203 acres from the VA Medical Center. The first burial took place on June 1, 1982. At the same time, approximately 2,600 gravesites were available in the post cemetery, which made it possible for veterans to be buried there while the new facility was being developed. On Memorial Day 1982, more than 33 years after the first resolution had been introduced in Congress, impressive ceremonies marked the official opening of the cemetery.(http://www.cem.va.gov/nchp/ftcuster.htm)
  • The Black Hills of South Dakota is full of evidence of Custer, with a county, town, and the Custer State Park all located in the area.
  • Custer Observatory is the oldest observatory on Long Island. Located in Southold, New York, it was founded in 1927 by Charles Elmer (co-founder of the Perkin-Elmer Optical Company ), along with a group of fellow amateur-astronomers. This name was chosen to honor the hospitality of Mrs. Elmer, formerly May Custer, the Grand Niece of General George Armstrong Custer.

See also

References

  • Eicher, John H. and David J. Eicher (2001). Civil War High Commands. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
  • Gray, John S. (1993). Custer’s Last Campaign: Mitch Boyer and the Little Bighorn Remembered. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-7040-2.
  • Longacre, Edward G. (2000) Lincoln's Cavalrymen, A History of the Mounted Forces of the Army of the Potomac. Stackpole Books; ISBN 0-8117-1049-1
  • Michno, Gregory F. (1997) Lakota Noon: The Indian Narrative of Custer's Defeat. Mountain Press Publishing Company; ISBN-10: 0878423494; ISBN-13: 978-0878423491
  • Scott, Douglas D. and Richard A. Fox and Melissa A. Connor and Dick Harmon (1989). Archaeological Perspectives on the Battle of the Little Bighorn. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-3292-2.
  • Tagg, Larry, The Generals of Gettysburg, Savas Publishing, 1998, ISBN 1-882810-30-9.
  • Utley, Robert M. (1964). Custer, cavalier in buckskin. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-3347-3.
  • Warner, Ezra J. (1964). Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders. Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 0-8071-0822-7.
  • Wert, Jeffry (1964). Custer, the controversial life of George Armstrong Custer. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-83275-5.
  • Wittenberg, Eric J. (2001). Glory Enough for All : Sheridan's Second Raid and the Battle of Trevilian Station. Brassey's Inc. ISBN 1-57488-353-4.

Notes

  1. ^ Custer in the 1850 US Census in North Township, Ohio
  2. ^ Boston Custer in the 1870 US Census in Monroe, Michigan
  3. ^ Custer in the 1860 US Census at West Point
  4. ^ Tagg, p. 185.
  5. ^ CNN: 'Little Bighorn Remembered' -- reconsidering Custer's last stand
  6. ^ Gray, Custer’s Last Campaign,1993

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to George Armstrong Custer.


Template:Persondata

Template:Link FA

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=George_Armstrong_Custer&oldid=152648162"